Dan Aquilante and Mary Huhn face off on the good, the bad and the ugly

He used to be public enemy #1, but now he’s America’s Sweetheart – this year, controversial hip-hop artist Eminem officially crossed over to become the biggest star in music. He made his acting debut in “8 Mile,” a semi-autobiographical movie about a struggling white rapper from Detriot – it earned $15 million in its opening weekend alone. As the year drew to a close, he also held the record for best single-week sales for an album (“The Eminem Show”) and best single-week sales for a soundtrack (“8 Mile”). (‘The Eminem Show,” which was released this summer, was also the first album ever to debut at #1 after being on sale for a single day.) Despite the silliness – giving the smackdown to Triumph the Insult Comic Dog at this year’s Video Music Award, the ongoing feud with Moby – Eminem is easily the biggest, most influential artist of the year.

But despite the hype, Em wasn’t the year’s only big story. Dan Aquilante and Mary Huhn weigh in on baby-dangling, the Osbournes, the resurrection of Kurt Cobain, and other memorable moments from the past year in music.

ARTIST OF THE YEAR:

Eminem. Movie stars want to be musicians and musicians want to be on the big screen. Few rarely do both well – but this rapper sparked major Oscar buzz for his role in “8 Mile.” His house went up for sale on eBay. And he’s rumored to be in negotiations for a Hollywood cop-buddy pic. Now if he could only learn to smile. – DA

Beck. He’s mixed folk, pop, funk and hip-hop – but on his latest disc, “Sea Change,” Beck downshifts from his cut-and-paste, beat-driven mode to create a quiet, emotionally tumultuous album. Listeners can drown in his tears on a Sunday afternoon as he chronicles a breakup in agonizing glory. – MH

BEST TREND

The marketing of the so-called rock revival. According to most reports, 2002 was the year rock returned, courtesy of the Strokes, the Hives and Coldplay – but in reality it was just business as usual, with record company suits trying to create the next big thing. Such corporate hubris blossomed like a pimple on prom night with that great exercise in vapidity, “American Idol.” – DA

Swedish rockers. Led by bands like the Hives and the Soundtrack of Our Lives – and followed by Sahara Hotnights and the Caesars – the Swedish invasion was in full effect. But the Hives stand out for sheer showmanship: At this summer’s NYC shows, the band performed in front of a huge American flag as skinny, arrogant frontman Pelle Almqvist climbed on the bass drum and declared: “We are the Hives. We love you – and kiss my ass.” – MH

BEST DISNo knighthood for Keith. After writing some of the most memorable music of the last 40 years, the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger was honored by the doddering Queen of England in June with a knighthood. Richards, meanwhile, got nothing. Hey Queenie, Keith only looks dead. – DA

The Sex Pistols shut-out. The Brit punk pioneers were again denied entry to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, while artists like the Clash, the Police, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, AC/DC and the Righteous Brothers will be inducted. Sid would have turned it down anyway. – MH

BEST EXCESSIVE HYPELance Bass, astronaut. *NSYNC’s Bass wanted to blast off into space almost as much as his detractors wanted him to, but unfortunately he was unable to raise the $20 million for a ticket on a Russian space shuttle. He’s still in Russia; so far he’s raised enough money to get back to Toledo. – DA

Justin Timberlake, solo sensation. Even hip circles were looking forward to *NSYNC’s Justin Timberlake’s debut solo effort, “Justified” – that is, until he did a pale imitation of Michael Jackson at the Video Music Awards in August. But Timberlake may have redeemed himself with his new video for “Cry Me a River” – it’s as tell-all as he can get about his Britney breakup without actually telling all. – MH

BEST CONCERT, BIG VENUE

The Boss. Buoyed by his incredibly moving 9/11 tribute album, “The Rising,” Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band sizzled at Madison Square Garden with a concert that blended emotion-rubbed-raw numbers like “Into the Fire” with terrific party jams like “Mary’s Place.” – DA

The Stripes/Strokes. At this double-bill at Radio City in August, The White Stripes ripped up the joint. Then, when the Strokes took the stage, frontman Julian Casablancas was on crutches – but that didn’t affect the high-charged energy of the set – and for the finale, Jack joined them for a fiery version of the latter’s “New York City Cops.” – MH

BEST CONCERT, SMALL VENUEDavid Bowie. An unlikely combination, but when David Bowie played Staten Island’s Snug Harbor Theater – a pre-Civil War jewel-box hall for 300 – the result was magic. The power of a songbook that includes “Fame” and “I’m Afraid of Americans” resulted in the top concert of 2002.

The Drive-By Truckers. The rowdy Alabama outfit skidded into the Bowery Ballroom to blast the audience with their authentic Southern-fried, whiskey-fueled, guitar-driven rock, led by frontman Patterson Hood’s pedal-to-the-metal vocals. – MH

BEST COMEBACK

The King. Everything Elvis Presley did was big, so it should be little wonder this hunk-a hunk-a burning bones was able to mount a comeback from the grave with the techno remix of his old hit, “A Little Less Conversation.” So far RCA – the King’s long-time label – has no plans for a tour. – DA

Arthur Lee. In 1996, the genius frontman of the mid-’60s pop band Love was sentenced to 8-12 years on a minor gun charge. Lee got out this year, and played an amazing show at the Bowery Ballroom, performing all the Love classics – including songs off the band’s piéce de résistance, “Forever Changes.” – MH

BEST BLATANTLY CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR

R. Kelly. The R&B crooner, whose album with rapper Jay-Z, “Best of Both Worlds,” tanked, found himself in hot water after a sex tape that allegedly featured him and an underage girl in sex and urination scenes leaked on to the Internet. The singer maintains the man in the video is not him. – DA

Axl Rose. The Guns N’ Roses’ frontman wasn’t arrested for canceling his Vancouver or Philadelphia shows at the very last minute- which resulted in riots in the city of Brotherly Love – but he should’ve been. – MH

BEST SHOCKER

The bluegrass revival. At this year’s National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences ceremony in March, U2 and Alicia Keys snagged Grammys, but top album of the year went to the predominately bluegrass soundtrack for “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” – the category’s darkest dark horse. – DA

The “Osbournes” phenomenon. The former bat-biting, ant-sniffing lead singer of Black Sabbath gave MTV its biggest hit ever, as his foul-mouthed family warmed the heartland’s airwaves and earned a shout-out from President Bush. – MH

BEST FREAKSHOW

Jacko. What with baby burqas, the friendship with Liza, fending off $21-million breach-of-contract lawsuits and the butchered schnozz, people tend to not take Michael Jackson seriously anymore. But the misunderstood singer is absolutely right when he claimed in a July press conference that his terrible album, “Invincible,” failed because Sony honcho Tommy Mottola is the devil. Hey Tommy, tuck in that tail. – DA

Jacko. Just when you thought the fallen self-proclaimed King of Pop couldn’t get any weirder, he tops himself. The decomposing Jackson dangled his baby over his hotel balcony in Berlin – while holding a white cloth over the tot’s face – while a shocked crowd below watched. He attempted spin control the next day by taking his other two children on a trip to the zoo, with their little heads covered in burqas. He never treated Bubbles like this. – MH

BEST LONG-OVERDUE RELEASE

‘New’ Nirvana. After years of holding the unreleased Nirvana catalog in legal limbo, merry widow Courtney Love worked out a deal with the surviving band members that allowed the heretofore unreleased gem “You Know You’re Right” to be included on a new greatest hits collection. The album debuted at No. 3; Cobain recorded the song two months before his death in 1994. – DA

“Standing in the Shadows of Motown.” This documentary told the story of the musicians behind the ’60s Motown sound. The Detroit-based Funk Brothers performed with dozens of Motor City stars, and played on more No. 1 records than The Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley combined. – MH